This does jive with my previous dog attack research, which suggests that children are often the targets of dog attacks, especially fatal ones.

Kids: What are they doing to provoke these attacks!? Were they taught that dogs are to be used as trampolines ("My dog would never bite! my little girl jumps on him all day and he never growls") Are they dogs rabid, sick, or what!? Where were the parents during all of this!?

If only there were some common variable we could point at and say: "Ah ha!" and stop them.

I used to have a Rotty and my cousin had his sister. Her son used to jump all over her rotty and she would allow it. Then every time he would come over my house, he would try to do that to my dog and I'd have to reprimand him for it. I had to constantly explain to them that my dog probably won't like that. She was irresponsible.

It's not fair to blame a 5 year old for a dog attack- even less, to blame an infant. Children and dogs require CONSTANT supervision. A parent that leaves a baby alone with a dog should be charged with neglect!

It's also unfair to blame a dog. Even the sweetest dog has limits- which children naturally push. Not every dog is socialized around children, thought most should be. Kids tend to make jerky movements, are loud, poke and pull on ears and tails, and in general- are very abnormal, when all you're accustomed to is adult behavior. Dogs react in different ways to stress- often their behavior is defensive, which can quickly lead to aggression.

There's nobody to blame but the adults in the situations. You DON'T leave a child alone with a dog- even their own. And you DON'T leave an unsocialized dog in a situation where they can come in contact with children- and by that, I mean NOT unsupervised in a backyard where a child can enter or the dog can hop the fence, NOT on the end of a chain...

Our society has a romantic notion that dogs and kids just "go" together. Many older kids are completely trustworthy around their own dogs. But to leave a small child alone with a dog is reprehensible. :(

Secondly- kids should be taught- from an early age- to respect animals. When they are allowed to abuse their own permissive pets, they won't expect a strange dog to defend itself. Once again- it's the adults in the situation that cause failure.

The owners of these pit bulls have been cited 7 times in the last several months for letting their dogs run at large. The dogs killed another neighbor dog just a couple of weeks ago.

It is a clear case of bad socialization of the dogs and neglect. These dogs were left to run and fend for themselves. They were living strictly on pack instinct.

In this day and age where responsible pit bull owners are fighting for the lives of their dogs, all it takes is something like this. It's a huge setback.

But besides all that, a little innocent 5 yr. old girl had to die. I heard the 911 tape and it was so incredibly sad. Just knowing how my pit bulls are with children, I even have a hard time trying to understand WHY these dogs set their sights on this child and killed her.

Just another example of a few bad eggs giving a bad name to the whole breed. I remember several years ago when I had my Rottweiler and they were the going fad at the time. They were constantly on the news because of the bad owners that handled them. In reality, the breed as a whole was great.

"This does jive with my previous dog attack research, which suggests that children are often the targets of dog attacks, especially fatal ones.

Kids: What are they doing to provoke these attacks!?"

Yes, children are the most frequent victims of dog attacks. Why? Sometimes they play too rough, or stick their faces in the dog's bowl while it's eating without knowing that's not a great idea.. Most of the time though it is because, as was mentioned earlier, they behave very abnormally. Also, they often mimic prey, and can be viewed by dogs AS prey. This is ESPECIALLY true for a dog with high prey drive who has not been socialized to children.

ugh, that is so terrible, horrible, pointless, ad nauseum. when will it end? while my heart goes out to the families, what about the dogs? how many times does this have to happen before people start taking responsibilities for their animals? and the media just feeds off the frenzy, perpetuating fear and breed discrimination. in both circumstances it's pit bull mixes, that could mean anything. argh, makes me upset. what is the solution? banning humans?

I have a rottweiler who is very friendly but I would never leave him and a child alone. You don't know what the child or the dog may do.

In my opinion, there are many to blame for attacks all depending on the circumstances and situation.

Parents who are not dog owners still need to teach their children how to treat a dog regardless if its a puppy or full grown dog. I have seen children go up to dogs they do not know and pull their ears, their tails, put their face in the dogs face and the parents think its cute. I've seen children hit dogs, tease them, poke at them through a fence. And again, the parents said nothing but thought it was cute.

Irresponsible dog owners who dont' train their dogs, mistreat their dogs and leave these dogs with a child unattended is an accident waiting to happen. I don't care how friendly you think your dog is. One little thing can turn into a horrible accident.

Back Yard Breeders who sell puppies just to make a quick buck are putting weapons in people's hands. Especially breeds such as Pit Bulls and Rottweilers. Why do you think it is stressed so much about health and temperment testing when breeding. Its not just putting a male and female together. If you don't get a dog such as a rottweiler that is temperment tested, you don't know what you may be dealing with down the road.

Its also not just Pit Bulls and Rottweilers that attack. The news media chooses not to plaster the other breeds all over the news because Pit Bulls and Rottweilers have that "bad" dog reputation

I wanted to add my response then I will go on and read the other replies. I have a soon to be 3 yr old son. HE IS NOT TO PUSH SIT OR JUMP on Moe. Yes he plays with his dog and I AM THERE at all times. Not because I dont trust my dog or my son but becuase I have to supervise my son at all times. My son has been with dogs since birth and he knows how to respect and play with a dog. I feel proud of me and my husband for teaching this behaviour to our toddler since it is crucial for our dog to be part of the family. My son likes to brush his hair, fetch a ball to moe, lay next to him and get kisses, play with his tail (like hide from it and moe will put it near his hand very cute) My son has never hit moe he did try to pull on his ears but we stopeed him and my son has learned to be "nice" to moe. I think the parents should really look into being more cautios when owning a dog. Our husky did bite our daughter and she was not provoked it happened all of a sudden. I tried every thing I could to keep her as you all remember but she was not happy so she is now with a new family no children and can run free. She is happy and we are happy for her we miss her butdogs need a good life in my eyes and sometimes as much as you want you may not be the perfect owner for that particular dog. I am blessed Moe is good with us and so far no problems I am not all 100% but I know in my heart Moe will be with us for a long time. It all depends on the adults not the kids not the dogs. JUst my .02

I agree with the fact that it's the parents being stupid and it's just an accident waiting to happen. I also don't really believe, though, that the dogs were even pit bulls. It said "pit bull type dogs". That in itself pisses me off more than anything. It's the stupid @$$ reporters who make this breed look like they're just mean monsters that don't deserve the time of day and always do this all the time to unsuspecting children. It's the adults-the owners of the dogs and the parents/guardians of the children that are just asking for it. Very tragic but very preventable, in my opinion.

I have had two of my children bitten by dogs. Both times I was there and both times it was unprovoked. All the owners came up with both times was that my chidren were literally eye level with the dog and that somehow the dog was taking that as a challenge...?...the dog never ever bit another person that I'm aware of....before or after our incidents.....

Fortunatly, dog-mauling fatalaties are pretty rare, so I don't think we'll have to read about any more this year.

I didn't know the dogs had run-ins before-- I was thinking *maybe* it was "no one's" fault; if you take a country with 200 million dogs and add 50 million kids under the age of 10, somewhere, statistically, something bad has to happen.

"A Child Protective Services investigation is reportedly under way into the mauling death of a 5-year-old girl.

"The toddler was mauled to death by three pit bulls in Show Low Monday.

The girl was apparently playing in the front yard with her 5-year-old sister when the three adult dogs attacked her.

The dogs reportedly belong to a neighbor.

There is no word on what prompted the attack.

Investigators are back out at the scene today."

AZ Republic are calling them "pit bull type." Her parents weren't at fault. The girl was playing in her own front yard with other children. The dogs belonged to a neighbor with a history of letting the dogs run loose. The dogs fro whatever reason set their sights on this one particular little girl out of the group of kids. The owners have been cited on several occations.

In my opinion, these dogs were trained to be mean dogs and the irresposible owners had no power to restrain them. They should be charged with negligent homicide and made to pay the price. Hopefully the focus will be on the irresposible owners and not the dogs.

Yes, it's unfortunate to say, but the dogs need, and no doubt, will be put down. In their own way the dogs were victums, too, of these people. They're the product of their owner's upbringing.

It was later stated that friends and family gattered at the home where this girls was attacked and the neighbor that owned the dogs came to offer their sympathy. I can't believe they had the nerve to show their faces.